the environmental management system in a …...iso 14001:2015-09 standard, the process should be...

Technical Sciences, 2016, 19(1), 27–39

THE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMIN A BUILDING COMPANY IN THE ASPECT

OF THE REQUIREMENTSOF THE PN-EN ISO 14001:2015-09 STANDARD

Jolanta Harasymiuk1, Natalia Ciak1, Beata Ferek1,Andrzej Rudziński1, Jan Tyburski2, Lucyna Korona3

1 Department of Building Engineering, Faculty of Geodesy, Geospatial and Civil Engineering2 Foreign Language Studies, English Language Section,

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn3 Department of Architecture, Construction and Spatial Economy,

University of Economy in Bydgoszcz

Received 3 September 2015; accepted 28 December 2015; available on line 2 January 2016.

K e y w o r d s: environmental management system, PN-EN ISO 14001:2015-09, process approach,building enterprise.

A b s t r a c t

The article presents the environmental management system in a building company from theprocess perspective which meets the requirements of the international ISO 14001 standard. A newissue of this document from September 2015 introduced essentials changes in the attitude of buildingthe system, its structure and in ways of documentation. The article is to precede an attempt ofworking out the criteria and parameters of the effectiveness of the assumed structure of processes,which will be a subject of next article. In the first part of the article, the justification for using theprocess approach in building the environmental management system was depicted – the modernconcept which determines the effectiveness of action. The second part presents the theoretical modelof the process structure of the environmental management system, which when adopted to the needsof a given building company may become a basis for the preparation of an effective system in practice.

Correspondence: Jolanta Harasymiuk, Zakład Inżynierii Materiałów i Procesów Budowlanych,Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski, ul. J. Heweliusza 4, 10-724 Olsztyn, phone: 48 89 523 47 27,e-mail: [email protected]

Introduction

One of the challenges faced by modern building practice is a system basedapproach to the issue of sustainable development, understood as a legal require-ment and a necessity in a civil society. The practical realization of this conceptshould not only be restricted to the design of eco-friendly and energy savingbuildings, but it should also involve a change of attitude of building companies inregards to environmental care. The tool, which fosters the limitation of theinfluence of processes and products used by a building company on theenvironment, and which rationalizes the utilization of environmental resourcesand its advantages, which is the environmental management system based onthe requirements of the international ISO 14001 standard.

The problem of the creation of an environmental system in a buildingcompany has not been described sufficiently. In the literature on the issue,there are only general points, such as e.g. the formal requirements forenvironmental management systems in production organizations (EJDYS et al.2012, ŁADOŃSKI et al. 2005, URBANIAK 2004), the development of the environ-mental management system and the stages of its introducing (LISOWSKA--MIESZKOWSKA 2007, ŁUCZKA-BAKUŁA 2009, MATUSZAK-FLEJSZMAN 2011,MISZTAL, JASIULEWICZ-KACZMAREK 2014, NIEMIEC et al. 2012). There is alsoa shortage of publications enabling to work out the practical aspects of anenvironmental management system. At the same time the specific operationalfeatures of a building company bring the realization that the undertaking ismore difficult than in the case of industrial enterprises. From the analysis ofthe present state of best practices organizational external conditions have anadverse impact on this realization (instability of legal and financial environ-ment of building companies, low profitability of building production, etc.) andinternal conditions (the lack of engagement of the company’s CEOs in intro-ducing a system and making it work, the low motivation of the mid-levelmanagerial staff to undertake tasks exceeding the scope of past duties). Thedifficulties to correctly interpret the requirements of the ISO 14001 standardare frequent occurrences in building companies.

Characteristics of the process approach in creatingthe environment management system

The environmental management system issues from the quality manage-ment system1. In the literature on the subject, there are numerous definitions

1 Because of the popularity of the ISO standards of the 9000 series it was decided to implant thisconcept in the sphere of environment protection in businesses.

Jolanta Harasymiuk et al.28

Technical Sciences 19(1)2016

of the system. According to the authors, it may be described as an intention-ally designed and organized material, information and energy system, whichis applied by a building company, and is used to make products and achievethe environmental goals which the firm is obliged to meet.

The basis of building the system may constitute the international stan-dard, defining the necessary requirements to be met by the system and beinga reference document in the process of its certification. In September 2015the third edition of the standard was issued, which introduced importantchanges of the concept, as compared to its earlier publications (1996, 2004).

The foundation of the PN-EN ISO 14001:2015-09 standard is a modelusing the cycle of organized activities „Plan-Do-Check-Act” (PDCA), in whichspecial duties connected with supporting of the environmental managementin an organization are attributed to the CEOs (JASIULEWICZ-KACZMAREK,MISZTAL 2014). On the basis of a model of the system shown in Figure 1,which is very general and assumes that it should fit an organization of anykind and size, a building business ought to work out its own environmentalsystem.

From the qualitative research done by the authors on real systems andaccording to (JASIULEWICZ-KACZMAREK, DROŻYNER 2013), it can be concludedthat the effectiveness of the operations of the system depends on the methodused in its design. In accordance with the process approach, which isrecommended in the PN-EN ISO 14001:2015-09, mandatory in the Polishversion of ISO 9001 standard 2008 and its amendments or the modernconcepts of Total quality management (TQM), each organization, amongthem also a building enterprise, is a set of processes. According to the PN-ENISO 14001:2015-09 standard, the process should be understood as a suc-cession of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs intooutputs. The elements of the input can be constituted by e.g. the require-ments of the investor determined in the offer query or in the contract and anattached documentation, legal requirements stated in the building standardsand building law, work objects, binding principles of procedures in the courseof a processor financial resources for its realization. The elements of anoutput can consist of: products of a building company (expenditure and/ororganizational documentation of construction, building work, object ele-ments, the entire object or a set of objects of a given building task, environ-mentally-adverse waste materials).

According to the authors, the process approach should be understood asan identification and linkage of all the key processes for the realization ofproducts of building enterprises, and their inclusion into the environmentalmanagement system.

The Environmental Management System... 29


Fig. 1. The model of the environmental management system based on the Deming’s cycle „Plan-Do--Check-Act”

Source: elaborated by the authors on the basis of PN-EN ISO 14001:2015-09.

All the processes to be planned according to all the requirements of the ISO14001 standard applicable to this process, each process to have determinedgoals, and the effectiveness of its realization is to be monitored. Additionally,the amended ISO 14001 standard [ISO 14001 Revision ...] emphasizes the needfor process planning with the consideration of threats and opportunities forthe realization of the enterprise’s business goals (FAHMI, GREENWOOD 2015,ZYMONIK et al. 2013).

A general model of the environment management systemin a building company

A general model of the system was prepared for a medium-sized privateenterprises, whose objective of operations is realization of building work andbuildings objects.



The structure of the environmental management system is made up ofprocesses and relations between them. A set of processes should embrace allessential processes on different levels of the hierarchy, because omitting someof them may result in dysfunction of the entire system (KARAPETROVIC 2002).A set of relations between processes should determine their order and mutualinfluence. In the structure of processes (Fig. 2), the following groups ofprocesses may be distinguished: basic, auxiliary, managerial and maintainingthe system of environmental management.

As the main processes are considered those indirectly connected to therealization of building tasks, creating so-called added value for an enterprises.These are processes conventionally called PP-1 – Obtaining an offer andsigning a contract, PP-2 – Preparation of building activities and PP-3 – Realiz-ation of building activities with regard to the needs of environment protection.Each of these above-mentioned processes is a complex process, in whichtogether with the activities characteristic for building operation, these whichare required by the ISO 14001 standard are realized.

The PP-1 is a succession of interconnected activities which aim at obtainingan offer/order for construction works and at concluding a contract, whichrealization will fulfill the expectations of the customer (an investor, a generalcontractor) and will observe the regulations, as well as will prove advantageousfor the enterprises.

The PP-2 process encompasses all the planned activities which are indis-pensable to create adequate conditions for completion of construction works.

The activity required in the course of the PP-1 and PP-2 processes from theviewpoint of the needs of the environmental system is identification and reviewof the requirements of environment protection, accompanying the realizationof the planned building work. The following points should be registered by anauthorized person: national and local environmental regulations, the inves-tor’s requirements as well as those of co-operators and other parties involved.

The nation-wide requirements are defined by parliamentary acts, decreesand instructions on environment protection which are passed by the Polishparliament, issued by the Cabinet and ministers. The local requirements maybe given by resolutions, ordinances or decisions issued by local authorities (e.g.through a local land use planning, decisions of constructing conditions andterrain use, decisions permitting the felling of trees’ and bushes’, etc). Theinvestor’s requirements may be determined in a contract or a report on theimpact of the undertaking on the environment. The requirements connected tothe scope and form of environmental documentation may be also determinedby a general contractor who is responsible for the entirety of work ona building site. All the identified requirements must be reviewed with the goalof elimination of possible discrepancies between the recognized requirements



Fig. 2. A general model of the structure of processes in the environmental management system ofa building enterprise

Source: elaborated by the authors.



on the preparation stage of building activities, and those determined earlier(on the stage of signing a contract or accepting an offer of building work).According to the assumed course of the PG-2 process, prior to the initiation ofa new building activity, the environmental aspects (referred to in the literaturealso as environmental problems)2 should be determined, which issues from anadopted organization and technology of realization of building work. Buildingactivities may impact on the environment in many ways. The potentialenvironmental outcomes are among other things: soil contamination, groundwater pollution, noise, vibrations and offensive smells, usage of electricalenergy, of water and natural raw materials, water, air, road and streetcontamination by the means of transport working on a building site, damage orthe destruction of trees and shrubs. A register of environmental aspects fornew building activities should be using the earlier prepared enterprise aspectregister. For the aspects which lack in the register, identification cards of newenvironmental aspects should be worked out. A specimen of an exemplary cardassigning environmental aspects to the processes being realized on a buildingsite, on working operation or technological measures, is shown in Figure 3. Theprepared criteria may apply to: legal and interested parties’ requirements,costs, threats/opportunities for the principal activity of an enterprise, etc. Anexample of a form of the assessment of the significance of environmentalaspects is shown in Table 1.

The PP-3 process – Realization of building activities with consideration ofthe requirements of environmental protection is a succession of organizationaland technical actions, which are indispensable for the fulfillment of therequirements that are set by the binding contract, the design documentationand legal regulations. The process encompasses these actions:

a) specific for the building trade, and among these:– organizing of operational management staff of building work,– initiating activities issuing from the project documentation and work

schedule,– organizing of work for teams and gangs performing the building work,– distribution of means of production,– supervision of work done,– technical inspection and acceptance of work,– accounts settlement of the work done,– the final acceptance of the building task, taking over of work/a building

in a guarantee service;b) required by the formalized system of environmental management, and

among these:

2 An environmental aspect – an element of activities of a building enterprises or its products,which may mutually react with the environment.



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– review of environment requirements connected to the building work,– recognition of new processes/operations or technological activities, which

occurred during the construction works, and preparing for them identificationcards as well as an assessment of environmental aspects,

– preparing an instruction of operational activities, which require particu-lar principles of proceeding,

– signing a contract on using the environment (e.g. picking up buildingwaste material – unless the investor was made obliged by the contract to takethe responsibilities of producer of these waste materials on drawing water, onremoving sewers, on supplying electrical energy and heat, etc.),

– giving over to the subcontractors of specialized work information ma-terials on the environmental management system,

– organizing trainings for workers and subcontractors on the principles ofthe system operation and on the proceeding in the case of break-downs,

– controlling of observation of the instruction on operational actions and ofthe realization of the elaborated environmental programmes.

Among the processes, which support the functioning of the main ones inthe environmental management system of a building enterprise can be distin-guished:

1. AP-1 – Analisis of risks and opportunities. The process relies on ansystematic approach to avoiding of losses (through: identification, assessmentand determining possible variants of handling risk) and on taking an oppor-tunity of advantageous situations for a company.

2. AP-2 – Proceeding with environmental aspects. This process en-compasses a succession of correlated activities, such as: recognition of environ-mental aspects connected to enterprise’s activities in the past and its presentactivities (among these, the aspects related to: the processes performed directlyon a building site and to the auxiliary processes, which though not connected tothe building work itself, but without which the performance of the work wouldnot be possible or would not fulfill the technical requirements), preparation ofan enterprise-wide list of identified environmental aspects, making an assess-ment of their significance according to the settled criteria, preparation of a listof essential environmental aspects3 and informing the employees involved inthe realization of enterprise’s processes about them, bringing up to date of listsaccording to the needs – before the introduction of the following items: newtechnologies, new operational techniques and before each new building work,monitoring of significant environmental aspects.

3 An essential aspect – an aspect recognized according to the criteria used in an enterprise asessentially effecting the environment.



3. AP-3 – Identification of legal requirements and of others. This processencompasses a succession of correlated activities, consisting of recognition andregistration of all the environmental requirements connected to the enterpriseoperation and to the realized building work, with a special consideration forrequirements of the interested parties.

4. AP-4 – Reaction to the break-down situation4. This process encompassesa succession of activities, such as: recognition of a potential break-downsituation, working out of an instruction of proceeding in a break-downsituation and submitting them for checking or validation by an authorizedperson(s) or institution (Fire Brigade, Environmental Protection Inspector),conducting instructional training at the workplace for the workers and thesubcontractors of any specialized work, making a periodical evaluation ofworkers’ preparation for a defect situation through doing practical exercisesunder simulated conditions, and the verification of actions on procedures afteran occurrence of accidents or break-down situations.

The main processes, except for the mutual correlation ensuring the flow ofinformation, must be linked with the process of management of a set of all thesimultaneously planned and realized offers for building work. This processmay be conventionally called PMBP – Management of building production. Itencompasses activities related to the distribution of tasks and resources, to theassessment of their realization and usage, as well as to the undertaking ofpreventive action, eliminating sources of potential problems.

The second of the management processes, conventionally called PSM– Strategic management encompasses all the systematic activities related to:the determination of strategy and environmental policy, the management ofdevelopment undertakings and changes issuing form the adopted strategy, theacceptance of accepted goals for the processes and the en tire enterprises aswell as the settlement of principles of assessment of their realization.

Apart from the above-mentioned management processes, one more processshould be distinguished, which is related to the managerial staff of the highestrank in the structure of processes of the environmental management system.This is a PCEMS – Control of the environmental management system. Its aimis to ensure an effective operation of the system in such a way so that anenvironmental policy will be realized. This process encompasses activitiesrelated to: identification and recommendation to appropriate people of threatsand opportunities connected with system/business goals/ processes as well asestablishing the proceeding principles in the course of processes and formaliz-ation of these principles.

4 A break-down situation – a sudden event, which caused a serious threat to the environment (e.g.a leakage of oil derivate substance to the soil).



The processes of maintaining of the environment al management systemconsist of:

1. MPEMS-1 – Review of the environmental management system. Thisprocess embraces a succession of activities related to the assessment of theconsistence of the operations of the environment al management system withthe requirements of the ISO 14001 standard. It also assesses the consistence oflegal regulations, as well as of the requirements of the parties involved and theown requirements of a building enterprise.

2. MPEMS-2 – Audits of the environmental management system. Thisprocess may be described as a succession of activities embracing: planning,conducting and reporting of the effects of audits realized in an enterprise andon building sites, which are to verify whether the activities related to environ-ment protection and their results are in accordance with the planned ones.

3. MPEMS-3 – Correction activities. This process can be described asa succession of activities encompassing: initiation and realization by authoriz-ed people of correction activities of detected internal discrepancies (in productsof a building enterprises or the environment al management system) and anexternal (problems with subcontractors of specialized work, or suppliers ofbuilding materials), making notes of each activity and making its review inorder to assess the results obtained.

4. MPEMS-4 – Supervision of documented information. This process em-braces a succession of activities aiming at up-to-date character of requireddocuments both in the seat of an enterprises and on building site (amongwhich: environmental policy and aims, building standards, legal regulations onenvironment protection, operational instructions, etc.) and storing appropriatedocumentation for a determined period of time (contracts’ reviews and otherdocuments which form basis of realization of building work, audit reports,certificates confirming conduction environmental training, etc.).

The enumerated processes may be described in the form of documentedprocedures, but it is not an absolute requirement. The PN-EN ISO14001:2015-09 standard recommends to focus the documentation of the envi-ronmental management system on the results of activities grouped in pro-cesses, and not on the description of these processes (POCHYLUK 2015).

Summary

In order to satisfy the increasing requirements of customers, buildingenterprises must be ready for the necessity of extending their managementsystems by use of new thematic scopes. With the progressing degradation of



the environment and with the increased care of it, only the appropriatelyprepared environmental management system may present a trump card whileobtaining orders [offers], in which the attitude of a building contractor towardsenvironmental protection is considered.

The use of process approach in working – out of an environmental systemincreases the probability of its effectiveness on the condition of a suitabledivision of activities of a building company into appropriate processes.

Presented general model of the environmental management system fulfillsthe requirements of the PN-EN ISO 14001:2015-09 standard and it is alsocompatible with the PN-EN ISO 9001:2015-10 one, which make it easier tointegrate both the environmental and the quality management systems.

The prepared model focuses on improvement of results in environmentprotection and on reducing the risk of doing a business in building companies,which should be reflected in an increase of interest in introduction of theenvironmental system to practice in their activities. The model may be used topreparation of a formalized and non-formalized environmental system ina given case in a medium-sized private building company. After an appropriateexpansion of auxiliary and managerial processes, the model may be applied toprepare the system in a big company. The presented model of the environment-al system eliminates the most frequent disadvantage of the formalized sol-utions, in which the role of documentation is over-emphasized.

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